One person donated $106,000 to pay off accounts at two stores in northeast Ohio. Another gave $200,000 for layaway tabs at two stores in Gainesville, Florida, and a local Pennsylvania businessman who calls himself "Santa B" paid off $158,000 at stores in Harrisburg and Mechanicsburg, Wyatt Jefferies, a spokesman for Wal-Mart Stores Inc, said.

Smaller payments totaling several thousand dollars also have been received, he added.